james_camerons_avatarfandomcom-20200222-history
User talk:Xean
Re: Contest Hi again, Sena. Yes, I've heard of Sanctum, and it looks really interesting. This opportunity is great to attract new users, and it would help the wiki. It's an honor Universal picked us to host the contest, so that sums the list of people that knows we exist or have contacted us. For example, an actor from Avatar contacted the German Avatar wiki once to tell us how professionally managed this site was, and to congratulate us, and another time an official Avatar book mentioned us in the credits section. News like this just keeps the community proud, and it's an incentive to keep this site as professional and well sourced as it can be. But to keep the professional standards, we enforce our policies, but they are broken usually by people that troll just to get these badges. That's why we decided to eliminate from the wiki, users were editing just to get the badges, and admins had to handle this mess. But given this situation, we will have to deal with them only for the two weeks. Please, when the contest is over, disable the badges. Once, a user said: This community should be very proud of itself. Being recognized as a credible source in an official Avatar document is no small thing. However what is more important is WHAT they are recognizing. They look and see a dedicated, connected and open community, sharing information and positive thinking across all members, old and new. Now that sounds to me like another community depicted in the movie which this website draws its name from. My greatest pride is in knowing that I participated in something that came from nothing, and became incredible. A tip of that hat to the administrators and a well done to the entire community. Now, the community probably wouldn't be the way that it is today if we had all of those MediaWiki extensions activated that seem to value the quantity of edits over quality. I just want to express why we don't use features like those, and why we keep this site only Avatar-related. But it's an honor for us to be recognized like that, and we can't miss an opportunity like this to attract new people that love and breathe Avatar, and that may be unaware of this site. For that reason, and for that reason only would we like to hold the contest. I appreciate your interest, and for giving us this opportunity that we don't get everyday. Also, I would like to get more details about this contest before it goes live. What will the users need to do in order to win, and which will be the prizes? If that can't be made public yet, please don't hesitate on sending me an email to matias_a94@yahoo.com, or if you don't know yet, at least let us know how it usually works. -- 01:48, January 14, 2011 (UTC) Hi Xean, I have 3 questions regarding that contest: *Does Universal explicitly want to do the contest on this wiki? I don't actually see why they would want that. The only connection between Avatar and Sanctum is James Cameron and he only gave some technical advise for production and did a few promotional interviews, but has little to no influence on the actual movie.Faern. 3D-HD-Pics 03:24, January 15, 2011 (UTC) :*Universal did explicitly request to do a contest on this wiki. I think their reasons are probably because of the James Cameron tie in, but also because this wiki is so active and rich, and I'm sure they're hoping that people here see and like this new movie and talk it up. Basically you're their target audience, and they are aware of your wiki, which is pretty exciting.Sena 17:16, January 17, 2011 (UTC) *Why is the contest only for US residents? We are an international wiki with the majority of visitors not being from the US, so this would exclude more than half of our regular users which seems quite unfair towards our community. Faern. 3D-HD-Pics 03:24, January 15, 2011 (UTC) :*There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that most if not all of the giveaways we do are US only. This is for legal reasons and because many of the prizes we give aren't transferable. The DVD's we buy here are a different zone than people in other countries need to have, and even gift cards can't be used in other countries (believe me we've tried). The good thing about this one is that there is at least a badge for folks outside of the US, we of course understand that it's a bummer to have these rules, but they're the only way we can do giveaways.Sena 17:16, January 17, 2011 (UTC) *Your post on Matias' talk page suggests to me, that you won't give us a choice whether we want that contest to be held here or not. Is my impression correct?Faern. 3D-HD-Pics 03:24, January 15, 2011 (UTC) :*That is true, this is something that Universal is sponsoring on your wiki, though in my conversations with Matias he seemed as excited for the giveaway as am I. I think it's great for the wiki to get some new traffic flowing through. I know how hard you guys have all been working on this wiki, and while we've done facebook and twitter posts, having a giveaway is a great way to get people to come and check out your wiki.Sena 17:16, January 17, 2011 (UTC) :Sorry, but I am not excited at all by something that is forced upon us. After all, it is not Wikia who drives this wiki, but the users and admins who contribute all content and keep the place running. Wikia is only the technological platform this wiki is running on, and the advertisements on pages are the prize for it. I also understand that the revenue from advertisements might not be sufficient to run Wikia. But it is an absolute no-go to use our wiki for promotional purposes of another company without getting our consent in advance (and without leaving the option to say no). It is a matter of politeness and good manners to ask before entering someone else's realm, isn't it? Wikia does not show any of both the way you approch us. So in the future, please contact us before setting things in stone. Money is not all that counts, and with the amount of wikis you are hosting, it should not be a big issue to find another wiki for hosting the contest in case we would reject to host it here. The relationship between Wikia and its communities is of bilateral nature, none would be without the other. If Wikia expects us to respect some rules, it should not be asked too much to expect Wikia to follow some social rules of communication and ask. Thank you for your time and effort to keep Wikia working. (To avoid misunderstandings: I do not object the contest, but I do object the way you communicated it to us.) Faern. 3D-HD-Pics 00:28, January 18, 2011 (UTC) :*I'm sorry you are upset, this is a great opportunity for the wiki and Universal, so not one we would pass by. We obviously want to respect our communities, and hope that they will understand that we can't always discuss promotions, competitions, and advertisements in advance. We have to have the flexibility to support our communities, and to arrange the promotions and adverts that allow us to continue to support them long term. In a case like this, where it's clearly a big boost to the status of the wiki (as I said, universal asked specifically for this to be here!) then we are obviously keen to make that happen. Hopefully this will help us promote and support this wiki in the future - perhaps with other giveaways or promotions more closely related to Avatar - I'm sure that's something we can agree is a good thing Sena 01:10, January 18, 2011 (UTC) :"We obviously want to respect our communities, and hope that they will understand that we can't always discuss promotions, competitions, and advertisements in advance." :Interesting wording again. You are telling me that you have the intention to respect your communities. Obviously, there is a difference between having the intention to do something and the actual action. The same flowery but meaningless phrasing has been used to turn down and ignore the countless discussions about the new skin and other topics. You indirectly told me that you do with communities whatever pleases you. And sorry, I do not understand that you can't or don't want to discuss events in advance. The only reason I can imagine are monetary interests that make you patronize us. As an active community, we are able to and should thus be granted the right to judge ourselves what is good for us, as we don't have to manage thousands of wikis like Wikia does. Promotional events are certainly not a bad thing, I agree on that, but please let us get involved in the decision process. Thank you for your understanding. Faern. 3D-HD-Pics 22:31, January 18, 2011 (UTC) :*Unfortunately, we don't always have the ability to give advance notice. We arange this sort of promotion with the company involved, and once it's agreed and we know it's going to happen we let the community know. These are complex deals, and not something we can always talk about in advance. Sena 20:10, January 19, 2011 (UTC) ::Thank you for nothing besides confirming that all words about respecting and caring for your communities are hot air if money is involved. I am sorry that Wikia is not willing to do a compromise. Please be aware that this conversation will be saved for possible future purposes. Thank you for your time, even if we couldn't come to a positive agreement. (Note: This discussion took place without prior agreement of all admins and does not necessarily represent the wiki as a whole.) Faern. 3D-HD-Pics 21:06, January 19, 2011 (UTC) Good Evening Sena ~ hopefully, this is the best place to contact you about the proposed contest that Universal has requested for our wiki. I don't get it! I am baffled why a contest about a film called "Sanctum" is proposed for our "Avatar" wiki? You have no idea how strict our Admins are about content on our wiki ... if it isn't directly associated with "Avatar" then it isn't allowed. They are firm about not compromising the integrity of our wiki and our Users respect, appreciate, and adhere to this policy. The only possible link that I can detect is James Cameron. Please realize that we think James Cameron hung the moon ... and there isn't a group of people anywhere who are more in awe of this man than we are. However, it is my understanding that he contributed no more than a passing nod to "Sanctum" and those are very weak credentials to earn a spot on this wiki. Another issue that bothers me a great deal is that this contest is only open to residents of the United States. The majority of our Users are from other countries and much of the content on our wiki is a result of their tireless work. And they won't be allowed to participate? That is not acceptable! I can't imagine that Universal would encourage this type of negative public relations ... especially since they market their films worldwide. Sena, It is truly a great honor that Universal has chosen our wiki for their promotion; but isn't there some way that our concerns can be addressed and "made right"? Is there any way you can help us with this? Please? Thank you for your time. ☼ Ghaziya, Phoenix Rising ~ Peace, Love and Hope ☼ 02:50, January 19, 2011 (UTC) :*I understand your concerns, however all of Wikia's giveaways are only open to residents of the United States. This is because our offices are located in the United States and there are legal issues with offering prizes outside of the United States. We would love to become a multinational company with offices all over the world, so that this is no longer an issue, but for the time being we have to work within those constraints. As to the question of relating to Avatar, the James Cameron link is important to Universal, which is one of the reasons they were so keen to advertise on your wiki. This is a great opportunity to showcase the wiki and its content to folks who may have never visited before. There will be no non-Avatar related content added to the wiki other than the one giveaway blog post, which will maintain the integrity of the work you all have been doing here. Sena@Wikia 20:16, January 19, 2011 (UTC) RE: Awards Hi Sena. Yes, we would like the badges removed, please. When is the contest ending, by the way? Thanks for all your help, we really appreciate it. -- 03:39, February 7, 2011 (UTC)